MacGregorSailors.com

Goto this website and use your GPS equipment in your land lubber vehicle:

http://www.geocaching.com/

Since the Admiral and I have a GPS now.... This site lists where people have hidden treasure caches around the world and then list the latitude and longitude on-line. People with a GPS then go on treasure hunts looking for the cache. The GPS will get you within ~20 feet of the latitude and longitude and you look for the hiding place. When you find it, you take one item in the cache and leave something new. Usually just trinkets. It is not as easy as it sounds. Most locations are tame. Some are underwater or on the side of a cliff and require skills to find them. Some are on Mt. Everest. This brings a new dimension to treasure hunt parties.

It is a high tech hide and seek. A bazillion sites around the world to go find. $99 bucks for a cheap Garmin GPS, great exercise. Quit watching reruns on TV. Puget Sound sailors - hide treasure in the San Juans and have a Mac Treasure Expedition.

What is usually in a cache?
A cache can come in many forms but the first item should always be the logbook. In its simplest form a cache can be just a logbook and nothing else. The logbook contains information from the founder of the cache and notes from the cache's visitors. The logbook can contain much valuable, rewarding, and entertaining information. A logbook might contain information about nearby attractions, coordinates to other unpublished caches, and even jokes written by visitors. If you get some information from a logbook you should give some back. At the very least you can leave the date and time you visited the cache.

Larger caches may consist of a waterproof plastic bucket placed tastefully within the local terrain. The bucket will contain the logbook and any number of more or less valuable items. These items turn the cache into a true treasure hunt. You never know what the founder or other visitors of the cache may have left there for you to enjoy. Remember, if you take something, its only fair for you to leave something in return. Items in a bucket cache could be: Maps, books, software, hardware, CD's, videos, pictures, money, jewelry, tickets, antiques, tools, games, etc. It is recommended that items in a bucket cache be individually packaged in a clear zipped plastic bag to protect them. You could also have a printout containing prized Mark Prouty web graphics and illustrations. What would Archaeologists think if they found Mark Prouty graphics buried 1000 years from now? That is a scary thought.

Anybody want to hide something? Any Pirates out there?

Hey, aren't there trees and towers and things on terra firma? If I'm going to perish by "misadventure" I'm going to break the 17MPH Mac Speed record by getting blown out of the water by a huge bolt of lighting. No felled trees for me! Or I'll just stay inside until the weather is a bit more forgiving and play an exciting indoor game that is dangerous like..."honey we NEED a new autopilot, so we can't visit your parents this month!" Now THAT's adventure! On second thought...

OK, lets walk through this again... slowly.

You have the Admiral at a remote location.... out in the boonies demonstrating the versitility of your most recent high tech investment.... your GPS. You have thought ahead and packed a blanket, lunch and bottle of wine. You entertain the Admiral and THEN bring up the subject of your next high tech investment.... an autopilot.

Approval for future tech investments are a sure bet.

Windy, stormy, ? You get your brother,(whos almost a stupid as you) to play hooky from work and you go sailing and see how far your boat will heel without rounding.

Did i say that out loud? Dont tell my wife.

hey Randy, Ill have 2 trucks just south of you in Hayesville tomorrow. Air products is a customer of mine.

Scott, Haysville is close. Tow your Mac down here sometime and I'll show you what good Kansas wind is like. Well, I ought to bite my tongue. We were out Sunday and I had to keep looking at bubbles in the water to make sure I was moving forward. It must have been a record in Kansas... no wind. But usually, the wind is strong enough that you will give Toto a big thrill.

RandyMoon wrote:Tow your Mac down here sometime and I'll show you what good Kansas wind is like.

Three cheers for us middle-america sailors! Of course you have to remember that the central-states wind doesn't really pick up until you get above the snow belt...

Incidentally, great link on the geocaching. What a great activity with kids -- young or old.

I took my portable 1999 GPS home with me over Christmas to measure the height of some hills and at 30 degrees outside temperature the darn thing shut down on me. Not that I ever plan on sailing at that cold a temp.

I even plugged it in to the car cig lighter thinking it was the batteries and it still would not operate.

I guess I will have to look for treasure when it is warm out.

-Don B

FYI - most GPS units will be rather inaccurate, when it comes to measuring altitude...

If they can also pick up a WAAS signal, where ground based correction signals are transmitted through the satellites, then their vertical accuracy is greatly improved. But, your 1999 GPS almost certainly doesn't have that capability...

It was not displaying correct distance or direction either. But I do agree with you that it does not have the WAAS capability.

Maybe I was in a Bermuda Triangle.

It was quite surprising to find that it died at 30 degree temps as GPS's have been used for quite awhile under cold conditions.

I think it is time for a trade in or replacement anyway.

-Don B

This sounds like a good way to get rid of a lot of AOL cd's

I use AOL CDs on my dock lines to stop rats from boarding....

Catigale wrote:I use AOL CDs on my dock lines to stop rats from boarding....

If you have a microwave on board, throw an AOL CD in it and turn it on. Makes an excellent light show - little zapping electrical sparks. Freaks out ma but the kids love it.